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This fly is a down bib version of my 'articulated swimmer' range of flies and adopts the "sunburst colours" of a number of popular barramundi lures.

Like those lures this fly comes into its own when fishing water that is tannin stained or carrying a lot of sediment.

Building an articulated fly is basically a two part process with the first step being the tying of the trailing hook fly.

Materials for trailing hook

Process

A	Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook.

B	I build my marabou tail for these flies in three stages. The first stage is to tie in the under-tail. The target length of tail should be the same length as the length of the hook which in this case is 45mm. You will see that I have looped an elastic band over the top of my vice 4mm back behind the back of the hook so that I can use that as a guide as to the length of the tail.

D	The final part of the tail is tying in the over-tail which can now be tied in on top of the under-tail hiding some of the krystal and completing the tail.

E	If there is any unevenness along the top of the hook shank tie a little scrap wool in to make the under-body even. Take the thread forward far enough to be able to tie in a length of jelly chenille.

F	Tie in a length of jelly chenille and lock it in along the top of the hook shank all the way down to the bend of the hook.

The second part for building an articulated fly is to attach the articulated shank and to dress that to represent the thorax and head of the fly.

Materials for articulated head

H	Slide an articulated shank through the eye of the hook. Fish Skull shanks have an offset eye. Because you will be adding a flylipp bib below the shank make sure that when you slide the shank onto the hook that you position the offset eye so that the off set eye of the shank will be facing up.

I	Start behind the eye of the shank wind the thread, in tight turns, back toward the rear eye of the shank. I like to do a couple of half hitches as I proceed through this step just to be sure that the shank sides are locked together.

J	Tie in a length of palmer chenille along the of the shank all the way back to the rear eye of the shank taking care not to go so far back that you inhibit the movement of the trailing hook.

K	Wind the palmer chenille forward taking 6 tight touching turns.

L	Tie the palmer chenille off and trim the excess away with a sharp blade. With wet fingers stroke the palmer chenille back between your thumb and forefingers forming a skirt that disguises the join of the hook and the shank and lock that in with firm wraps of thread.

M	Rotate the fly 180 degrees and tie a fly lipp in so that it is flat along the bottom of the shank and it leaves enough access to the upturned eye of the shank to be able to connect your shank eye to your leader when you fish this fly.

N	Lock the fly lipp into that position by winding tight touching turns all the way back to the front of the skirt. Turn the fly back upright.

O	Tie in a length of jelly chenille directly in front of the palmer chenille skirt. Take the thread forward to just behind the front eye of the shank.

P	Take a length of plastic bead chain and with the tips of your pliers squeeze of the second and third bead. Tie the bead chain in directly behind the eye of the shank. Apply super glue to the tie in of the fly lipp and the plastic bead chain eyes.

Q	Trim off the excess bead chain leaving just the two eyes. Wind the jelly chenille forward in tight touching turns to directly behind the bead chain eyes. Tie the jelly chenille off behind the plastic bead chain eyes. Take the thread in front of the eyes and whip finish directly behind the eye of the hook. Trim away the excess thread and put a drop of super UV resin on the whip fished thread. .

R	Take a #00 lead shot and open up the split. Mix a very small amount of two part 5 minute epoxy and put just a drop in the split in the lead shot. I use the 5 minute epoxy because UV epoxy does not stick well to the fly lipp. With a pair of pliers position the lead shot in the middle of the leading edge of the fly lipp and then use the pliers to pinch the lead shot closed so its locked into that position. Rotate the fly in the vice to ensure that any excess epoxy flows evenly around where the lead shot is attached to the flylipp.

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